Tollefsen was ejected just 6 minutes into the Feb. 23 game and watched as his teammates for Team Norway were eliminated by Slovakia, 4-3.

Bartecko's head hit the ice and a pool of blood formed on the playing surface. He then had to be carried off on a stretcher and required stitches.

Tollefsen said there was no intent to injure Bartecko, and he felt terrible about the incident afterward.

“I didn’t try to hurt him. I know some people say I’m a dirty player and everything, but I never had a major (penalty) before this,” Tollefsen said. “Obviously, I was concerned for the guy, and I made sure he’s doing fine and everything. That’s the most important thing.”

Despite the ugly the episode, Tollefsen said he enjoyed his overall Olympic experience but wished it could have been longer. He played a total of 56:25 in three games, took two shots and had a minus-1 rating for Norway.

With his time in Vancouver now over, he turns his focus to the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Tollefsen was acquired by the parent club Detroit Red Wings in the Feb. 7 trade for Ville Leino. He was assigned to Grand Rapids the next day but couldn’t join the team until after his Olympic run.

He finally made his Griffins debut last weekend, and in three games has gone scoreless with a minus-1 rating and four penalty minutes.

Griffins coach Curt Fraser said he was excited to add the rugged, stay-at-home defenseman to his lineup.

“He’s a real guy,” Fraser said. “He’s big, strong and he’ll do a lot of good things for us.”

The trade didn’t completely surprise Tollefsen. He only appeared in 18 games this season for the Philadelphia Flyers, where he had two assists, 23 penalty minutes and a plus-1 rating.

“I knew something was going on in Philly, but I had no clue where I was going or who I was going for,” Tollefsen said. “But still, it was in the back of my mind, yeah.

“I liked Philadelphia, but I didn’t get an opportunity to play too much there, so I guess it was a good fit for me to go somewhere else.”

Coming to the Griffins will give him the chance to play a lot of minutes every night and provide extra defensive depth for the Red Wings.

For now, he’s trying to learn his way around Grand Rapids.

He didn’t arrive in town until Tuesday night. A personal family situation has caused him to return to Philadelphia periodically, but Tollefsen said his family is doing well and he hopes to have them in West Michigan by this weekend.

Outside of that, though, there’s only one thing he wants to concentrate on.

“Just play. Just do the best I can out there and help the team get some wins here,” Tollefsen said. “Their record hasn’t been that good lately, so it would be nice to get some wins.”